In the prior art, of which I am aware, various articles of manufacture have been packaged for display purposes in retail centers in a variety of ways. Perhaps the more conventional package constitutes a laminated "blister" pack (or "bubble" pack) having a transparent cover through which the article may be displayed to a potential retail customer. The blister pack usually has a cardboard backing printed with a trademark and other merchandising or pricing information. To remove the article, the blister pack is usually destroyed and subsequently discarded by the customer.
Additionally, the prior art has resorted to a plastic pouch having a transparent window and a pivoted flap that is folded over the sheath and secured thereto by a suitable clasp. While this type of package is reusable, nevertheless, it is primarily intended for elongated articles, such as a ratchet wrench handle, and is unsuitable for use with smaller articles of manufacture, such as wrench sockets. Besides, access to the article within the package is somewhat inconvenient.
With respect to a display package for a wrench socket, U.S. Pat. No. 4,043,453 issued on Aug. 23, 1977, has disclosed a flat cardboard strip intended on be folded along pre-arranged lines to form a triangularly-shaped hanger loop for subsequently engaging a hook on a merchandising display. The socket is suspended from the base of the triangle and is secured thereto by means of a molded retainer having parallel legs that are received within the socket. A resilient latch on the retainer snaps into the detent hole on the socket, and the socket is removed from the package by inserting an implement up through the socket to depress the latch. The object is to inhibit pilferage at the retail level.
While these prior art arrangements are perhaps satisfactory for the purposes intended, nevertheless, the packages are generally not standardized, nor are the lot sizes easily controlled; and the problem is especially pronounced where a complete line of wrench sockets of different sizes, both inch and metric, are intended to be used with several different sizes of input drive shanks. As a result, a relatively large inventory inventory of product and packaging materials is required during manufacture, shipment, distribution, and retail marketing. This is inconvenient and costly.
In an apparent attempt to alleviate some of these difficulties, the familiar blister packs have been assembled in a multiple package of perhaps a dozen individual packs, as disclosed for example in U.S. Pat. No. 2,302,045 issued on Nov. 17, 1942. In this '045 patent, the multiple package is perforated or scored, intermediately of the blisters within which the articles are packaged, and both longitudinally and transversely in a grid arrangement. As a result, an individual package may be broken off or torn off, as desired by the customer. However, since the cross-section of the package consists of two cardboard layers with a cellophane cover therebetween, which are bonded and laminated together, the break or tear will be uneven or ragged. While this defect would be insignificant at the user level, it would be unattractive and hence totally unsuitable for retail merchandising purposes.
Similar arrangements in the prior art have been shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,503,493 and 3,912,081 issued on Mar. 31, 1970 and Oct. 14, 1975, respectively. Basically, these packages are generally intended for pharmaceutical storage and dispensing purposes and are unsuitable for the intended purposes of the present invention.
Moreover, in the broader category of packaging materials, designs and concepts, the prior art has disclosed shipping cartons or cases having multilayer centering supports for retaining the respective top and bottom portions of various articles of manufacture and preventing lateral movement therebetween during shipment. Examples are U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,610,735 and 2,699,866 issued on Sept. 16, 1952 and Jan. 18, 1955, respectively. Still, another example is U.S. Pat. No. 3,804,234 issued on Apr. 16, 1974, which disclosed a plastic indexing panel sandwiched between respective top and bottom panels to form an integral assembly; the assembly is then placed on the bottom of the carton. The indexing panel has a plurality of projections which extend through openings in the top panel for receiving the bottom portions of bottles or other fragile articles. The bottom flaps of the carton are sealed, the top portions of the bottles are also suitably indexed to prevent lateral movement thereof, and the top flaps of the carton are sealed.
While the various cartons shown in these prior art patents are apparently satisfactory for shipping fragile articles in interstate commerce, nevertheless their respective teachings are unsatisfactory for a combination shipping package and subsequent promotional merchandising display intended to attract consumers at the retail level and assist them in selecting various articles for purchase.
Thus, it will be appreciated that despite these isolated disclosures and teachings in the prior art patents and existing commerical practices--which are apparently intended for specific purposes and hence are somewhat isolated from one another--and despite the abundance of packaging materials and the avalanche of merchandising packages at the retail level, no one to date has combined these materials and teachings for producing a simple low-cost effective merchandisable package, especially a package adaptable for wrench sockets, tool accessories and the like, which greatly simplifies packaging and inventory control at the manufacturing and distribution level, yet by the same token, results in an attractive package for promotional merchandising to consumers at the retail level.